If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Shedinja is a piece of junk. Sandstorms are popular. Spreading burns are popular. Entry Hazards are popular. It dies before it does anything. Do not use thing unless you have one hell of a strategy to use.
Wonder Guard would be awesome. However, Fighting Types have risen to power and are packing Stone Edge and/or a Ghost striking move. Ferrothorn exists, meaning Fire attacks are everywhere. It's also weak to Pursuit, so it can't run. Hitting Shedinja is too easy.
Shedinja is a horrible movepool. It might have Shadow Sneak, but that's really the only good thing.
The worst thing about Shedinja: One HP. Wonder Guard will never bypass the fact that this piece of crap has only one HP. If it is put in a situation where taking damage is guaranteed, you can't save it. Period.
Bottom line is: Shedinja needs so much support that a whole team would revolve around the use of Shedinja, which is suicide.

I will give Shedinja one saving grace: switching into Choice-locked enemies. This gives Shedinja a free switch in. This lets Shedinja scout. This saving grace will not last long though. You have been warned.

Heh. I saw videos where shedninja gets the ability sturdy from ability swaps. However, status and damaging weather can be deadly to shedninja. Paralyzing sheddie will go around the status problem as long as you have a trick room up. Having a drizzle politoad, a drought ninetales, or a cloud niner can get around the weather issue.

Doubles & Triples:
Shedinja isn't very useful but it does have one incredible niche. Remember the hacked Wonderguard Sableyes and Wondertombs of Gen 4? Well Gamefreak made this possible to acheive in doubles and triples. It's simple: partner Shedinja with a DW Prankster Sableye that knows Role Play. On turn one, have Shedinja use Protect and have Sableye use Role Play on Shedinja. Sableye then gains Wonderguard for the rest of the match, making it almost invincible. The only ways to counter it are through Toxic, using a pokemon with Mold Breaker, such as Haxorus or Rampardos, or by having a Pokemon hit it with Foresight then attack it with a fighting move. A very cheap but also effective strategy.

If using Shedinja in Doubles/Triples, a good way to mess with people is to partner it with a Pokemon that knows Soak. It loses its STAB moves, but only has two weaknesses then. And since it's no longer Ghost-type, you can freely switch it, as it's immune to Pursuit. It could be an unexpected move that could mess up an opponents strategy.

That's quite an interesting point and a good out-of-the-ordinary startegy! Since everyone else has covered the only two worthwhile movesets for Shedinja to high noon, I feel like contributing this week by looking into this unusual way to use Shedinja in battle.

Some noteworthy Water-types that aquire Soak (although they may not be the most popular choices in higher tiers) include:

Cloud Nine Golduck to cancel out all weather effects and prevent Hail and Sandstorms from wiping Shedinja out.

Pressure Wailord for more bulk and a faster PP reducer to your opponent's team.

Lightningrod Seaking. Yes, I know, Seaking is a forgettable Pokémon, but Lightningrod will draw away Electric attacks from Soaked Shedinja, reducing its weaknesses to a measley 1 - Grass.

Other Lightningrod Pokémon include Zapdos and Zebstrika, although I wonder if Zebstrika is actually better suited for Sap Sipper instead. There's Manetric, but it's rather frail. And Rhyperior... Shouldn't have any ability outside of Solid Rock.

However, even if you have a partner with Soak and Lightningrod, Soaked Shedinja is still weak to status ailments, Leech Seed, passive damage from Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes... Actually, any passive damage. A Magic Bouncer could at least get rid of the Spikes (and a Poison-type for Toxic Spikes in specific).

You could attach a Lum Berry to Shedinja to survive a status ailment once. There's also the Focus Sash to keep Shedinja alive from one potentially lethal attack.

Actually, now that I think about it, what if you Baton Passed a Substitute to Shedija? Because of Shedinja's frail defenses, the Substitute will break upon one hit, but it'll at least be immune from status ailments and Leech Seed for the time it stays up, as well as act as two Focus Sashes if you're already holding one. If you plan to Substitute some stat boosts to Shedinja, the only worthwhile ones are Attack and Speed.

Even though using Soak on Shedinja will take away its STAB, it can still pull off enough power with access to Swords Dance. The defensive/status-throwing variation that has been mentioned so many times before me wouldn't have any problems being converted to Water-type.

Shedinja overall is still an all-or-nothing Pokémon, but at the very least using Soak on it will greatly help it suddenly become immune to the frequent weaknesses that plague it.

With the right spread Shedinja becomes almost impossible to kill.With the given evs it can survive up to100+ bullet punches from 6+adamant banded technician scizor,outrage from 6+adamant banded rivalry haxorus etc etc.
the moves are pretty simple:
sub to check if ttar has fire blast,stone edge,crunch or any kind of move at all.sandstorm to stop sun which boost fire attacks and that might get shedinja killed in 500 turns,final gambit to ohko bliss in the switch in if its very weakened(though scarf magikarp might also work) and hyper beam because of stab air baloon because of earth power heatran and hidden power gound magikarp

Seriously, though, that set is not going to work at all. Remember, Shedinja has ONE HP. Repeat, ONE HP. It does NOT matter how much EV investment you make into its defenses, because it will ALWAYS have 1 HP.

Shedinja is weak to all forms of passive damage, including Sandstorm and Hail. You will only make people laugh as Shedija whips us its own death.

Final Gambit depends on how much numerical HP is remaining on your Pokémon. Because Shedinja has 1 HP, Final Gambit will only deal 1 damage.

Not only will Hyper Beam use Shedinjas unbelievably horrible Special Attack (base 30), but it'll leave it exposed for one turn for your opponent to switch out and bring in another Pokémon to use an attack that will kill it in one hit.

An Air Balloon will do nothing to help Shedinja, as Wonder Guard already makes it immune to Ground attacks.

This set is obvious. With Shendinja's terrible HP stat, Ev training in defenses is necessary. Substitute allows him to survive a few hits. Sandstorm can allow damage to the opponent while Shedinja takes it. Endure allows him to take a turn, to allow Flame Orb to turn on. Harden allows a raise in Shedinja's defensive. This set really is undefeatable!

You have been blessed with the gratitude of reading the Other Gyarados's post. May you have luck in the future.

Overview
Poor Shedinja. He has awful Stats, his best being attack, which is decent at best, a movepool that doesn't support his attack, he's just no where near as cool or good as Ninjask. However, his ability does make him unique, and suitable for the lower tiers. But, I can't say I'd recommend it.

Seriously, though, that set is not going to work at all. Remember, Shedinja has ONE HP. Repeat, ONE HP. It does NOT matter how much EV investment you make into its defenses, because it will ALWAYS have 1 HP.

Shedinja is weak to all forms of passive damage, including Sandstorm and Hail. You will only make people laugh as Shedija whips us its own death.

Final Gambit depends on how much numerical HP is remaining on your Pokémon. Because Shedinja has 1 HP, Final Gambit will only deal 1 damage.

Not only will Hyper Beam use Shedinjas unbelievably horrible Special Attack (base 30), but it'll leave it exposed for one turn for your opponent to switch out and bring in another Pokémon to use an attack that will kill it in one hit.

An Air Balloon will do nothing to help Shedinja, as Wonder Guard already makes it immune to Ground attacks.

Are you serious? This set is clearly a joke. I think the person who created this set knew full well that this was probably the worst shedinja set you could possibly make. How on earth did you take this seriously?

Are you serious? This set is clearly a joke. I think the person who created this set knew full well that this was probably the worst shedinja set you could possibly make. How on earth did you take this seriously?

THANK YOU. I always lol'd at Shedinja's 1 hp. So I decided to make a joke set, hoping to use it for April Fools or something :P

You have been blessed with the gratitude of reading the Other Gyarados's post. May you have luck in the future.

about shedinja,i think a good choice to double battles is to put a cloud nine golduck and put the item rechargeble batery,that makes shedinja with 1 weakness-grass,that isnt common at high tiers and because of golduck wouldnt have to worry about weather efects,the only weakness he has is covered easily by it bug moves,maybe just ferrothorn would be a trouble,so the set would be:
-X-scissors
-agility
-swords dance
-protect
its a big risk to have just 1 move,but who uses shedinja really doesnt care about risk,right?

Pokemon white friend code:0003 4727 2039
looking for almost all good pokemons unable to find in white and japanese ditto
help my dragon!

Counters:
Tyranitar, Hippowdon, Abomasnow, entry hazards, anything with an SE move that isn't weak to Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch, except if they can take one.

Partners:
Something with Rain Dance or Sunny Day (Tornadus and Whimsicott come to mind, who get priority Rain Dance and Sunny Day, respectively), a Spinner, and something that can beat weather inducers.

Credit to Beck for the RNG userbar.
As of August 18th 2012, I resigned as a CG leader.

Shedinja, one of my personal favorites, can be terrible or perfect. It can be defeated easily w/ fire, rock, dark, ghost, flying, poison status, burn status, ability eliminating moves/abilities, hail, sandstorm, stealth rock, and more so most teams can hit him even if you didn't plan for it, although IF you can't hit him then you're in big trouble. You'll either lose or have to struggle him(which practically gets rid of one of your pokemon). So as far as the generation change he hasn't really gotten much. He can't get a better ability, Wonder and Magic Guard showed up so Status moves can be tricky to use(at least most of them are Psychic types), move set hasn't really changed, although now there's rotation battles which can be interesting. He can't really be put into a category like OU or UU because every time he battles it changes from best to worst. So anyway here's the move set:

Statinja

Will-o-wisp
Toxic
Shadow claw
Grudge

Adamant, 255atk, 255spd,
Focus Sash/Lum Berry

Pretty much if they can hit you then grudge. If they can hit you and they're slower than you than attack than use grudge. If they can not hit you then use a status move then shadow claw. If they switch then just do as posted above.
Pretty much attack or grudge. Usually it will be grudge but on a lucky occasion you can take out their whole team. Unfortunately that luck doesn't happen very often.

Conveniently, bulbapedia provides a list of shedinja counters...this. Yes, that is everything that can carry hidden power in some way or another...they may not use it but hey, predict the switch into shedinja, fire off a hidden power [rock, etc] just because it seems like a really cool and popular move, outspeed it the next turn, gg mr cicada shell. (Btw, yes, ditto counters it, too, predict a switch into shedinja, transform, then fire off shadow sneak if it, like most shedinja sets posted thus far, carries it.)

It is also the most easily toxistalled pokemon out there. Heck, it even brings up a new type of stall that ninjask can pull off...weather stall. How? It's simple, just have abomasnow/snover or hippopotas/hippowdon/ttar and wait half a turn. That's how long it should take for weather to kill it. As a matter of fact, anything that has the balls to carry sandstorm or hail with no real use for it weather stalls shedinja. Yes, ninjask gets sandstorm, but with it, it becomes taunt bait, aka useless.

Even having SR/Tspikes/spikes down kills it. Getting it roared/whirlwinded in kills it. This kind of makes air balloon viable, yet...a sub would have to be passed to it. (Having a rapid spinner is a MUST when using shedinja.)

Anyways, with a horrific 40 base speed, it ain't gonna outspeed much anytime soon, especially in the ubers tier. It can effectively force switches and punish whatever switches in with whatever you want. It would have to get out quick b/c, well, it's the ubers tier for one if it's used there, and 2, magmortar runs rampant in NU, as I've heard from a certain mod friend of mine...also if someone choses to use that there.

This seems to be the best set there is for it:

Cicada s-hell
Focus Sash
Wonder Guard
Adamant Nature
252 atk/252 spd/4 wherever, won't matter anyways
~Will-o-Wisp/Toxic
~Swords Dance
~Baton Pass
~Shadow Sneak/X-Scissor
Basically...WoW to punish switch ins that aren't fire type, toxic if you rly fear those or could care less about physical attackers. Swords Dance for any switch in you feel won't die from a single shadow sneak or are just paranoid. Baton pass if you were really in there just to sponge up an attack and make you look pro with the safe double switch or want to pass on a SD. Shadow sneak is for actually doing damage on the 2nd turn, x-scizzor is for the punishing if you manage to survive the 2nd turn.

Overall, shedinja has 2 uses, both of which it would seem to do well with--a switch in punisher, and, probably the best use, something that can guarentee a safe switch.

Shedinja's got a nice niche in Ubers but with the upbringing of Reshiram and Excadrill getting the boot, it's become even harder for the discarded shell. Wobbuffet and Kyogre are excellent teammates for it.

It improves with Politoed and Ninetales being capable of overriding Sand Stream and Snow Warning, but it also suffers against Ferrothorn. Sure, Shedinja could Burn Ferrothorn, but if Shedinja catches Ferrothorn with an X-Scissor (dem Iron Barbs) or gets struck with Leech Seed, or any of Spikes or Stealth Rock, its toast. Still, in the right instances, Shedinja can take advantage on Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn doesn't always have Leech Seed, which is the primary way for it to defeat Shedinja. With that in mind, Shedinja can use Trick or WOW and set up Swords Dance. The opponent, if not having Leech Seed, will most definitely switch out to Hydreigon or the sort and do mindgames with attempting to attack or switching to Ferrothorn, so it's all a 50/50 when it boils down to it. Rapid Spin support is mandatory, obviously.

There is, however, one particular goodie Shedinja can do: it can actually Baton Pass something! With Hone Claws' TM status, Shedinja can legally Pass boosts. However, this isn't as spectacular as it actually appears to be.

Shedinja cannot really abuse Hone Claws for its own good.
The opponent surely has at least one way to attack Shedinja outright in order to prevent too many Hone Claws from being set up. And if they can't...well...Shedinja might as well be sweeping on its own.
Even if you use a Focus Sash to allow Shedinja to survive a hit and live to Pass off a boost, you might as well use a bulkier Baton Passer anyway. This applies to using Shedinja on a basic Baton Passing team (which have gotton more popular with Espeon and Shell Smash) as well. Sure, Shedinja can have its niches, but is it really worth the trouble?

I don't want to end my analysis on that negative note. Yes, Shedinja can really can live up to the title of the Wonder Guarder, but just try to please stick with its predictable, generic sets - it's easier that way.

Ally Options
Shedinja does well with Trick Room up (even though you still need to beware of entry hazards and weather to use it). Once you're golden, Base 40 Speed becomes a huge asset.

However, I said before that Shedinja users need to know it is almost designed to be a suicide attacker. Getting past Rough Skin or Iron Barbs Ability or a Rocky Helmet holder is a huge reason to have WoW/Toxic.

Oddly enough, if you need a Sandstorm that doesn't linger (such as if you want to bait certain Pokemon into appearing or discourage others), Sandstorm becomes another suicidal option. It can really help disperse a weather effect you don't want to see and pairs well with WoW/Toxic. Situational, definitely, but it can be a tide-turner.

The Strategy for this set is to:
-Burn or Toxic Poison Pokemon that are both vulnerable and not users of Status Effects to their benefit (i.e. Guts Ability)
-Sandstorm Pokemon that can use Status Effects to their benefit and are vulnerable to it
-Grudge Pokemon that you know will spam Super-Effective offense (the more PP you eliminate, the better)
-Pray you don't see Taunt (unlikely, but it will mess you up...)
-Switch to a Pokemon you can easily eliminate the target with after Shed' drops (as it most likely will)

By using Grudge, you can get a Pokemon weak to the "deleted" Move in "safely." For example, if you delete a Fire Type Move, Ferrothorn gets free reign.

Burning or Toxic Poisoning an opponent will severely limit their Attack and staying power, respectively. A well placed Burn will cripple many Attack-based Move users. Toxic whittles away hard after a few turns, so the opponent has to constantly switch (allowing you to get Stealth Rock and Spikes Damage for further chipping).

Sandstorm is the wild card. If your opponent can secretly deal with Sandstorm for a limited time or can use it as a boost, you've overplayed your hand. However, you may get lucky with your own Sand Rush in the meantime...

Shedinja is an interesting Pokemon. You won't see much use, nor use it very well without support, but, in turn, it can support others very well, even though it won't see much use. It's tricky to use, but to use it you must be tricky. Kind of a Torchic-or-the-Egg conundrum.

You have STAB X-Scissor and Shadow Sneak (plus Priority), and Sucker Punch for coverage/even more priority. When your time comes, let the Sash activate and use Grudge, so the final hit will be that. With that move.

Oh, Shedinja. How I love and loath thee. Do you know how hard it is to solo Wattson with this guy? I had to overlevel him and use a TON of X Attacks. (NB: It's called a Scramble Challenge)

Shedinja is the dictionary definition of a glass cannon. Emphasis on the glass. Anything that's SE or passive damage will OHKO him. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Unless you have a Focus Sash. Then you get an extra life. It's only acceptable stat is Attack, but why would you worry about defensive stats if a pebble could kill it?

Even with all those setbacks, Shedinja can fit into the Uber tier. How? There are less counters in that tier than any other one. With arguably the best ability in the game, Shedinja can wall anything that cannot bypass it's ability.

So, what can Shedinja do? It has Sword Dance, Shadow Sneak, X-Scissor, Grudge... I don't know. Making sets isn't my forte. However, I have seen some good unique sets in this thread. Especially that Soak/Lightningrod one.

However, Shedinja's list of counters has grown with the generation shift. Reshiram and Zekrom can ignore Wonder Guard, and Excadrill can shrug off Shadow Sneak and strike back with Rock Slide.

Overall, Shedinja is odd. It has it's uses, but can easily be taken down by some common counters.

Are you serious? This set is clearly a joke. I think the person who created this set knew full well that this was probably the worst shedinja set you could possibly make. How on earth did you take this seriously?

Ah... shoot. What was I thinking at the time I wrote that? XD Well, Data's laughing at me, then.

I guess I've encountered one too many people on the Internet who actually aren't kidding. Of course, I've grown up around the Sonic fandom universe, and most of the time the bottomless stupidity of those people aren't intentional jokes.

I think Spite is one of Shedinja's best attacks solely for switching into Outrages and chopping off 4pp every single time...if not more! Even if you attempt a second spite, and the opponent isn't locked into Outrage anymore, The focus Sash allows you to cut down their coverage move that much more (given that they don't switch)......You can pretty much play mind games by correctly switching Shedinja in and out throughout a battle